Saint John and the Reversing Falls

Following a drive down 80 miles of twisting roads with steep descents, we were glad when we arrived in Saint John, another coastal port of the Bay of Fundy.  It was really one of the most beautiful and interesting cities we visited in Canada. 

The girls, needing there shopping fix, had us heading to the City Market.  There is a variety of shops ranging from fruit and produce, meat, clothing and jewelry, etc.  We were able to relieve ourselves of several Canadian Loonies (money) after a stroll down the three isles.  

As I mentioned before, it is a very beautiful city and they go to great lengths to maintain the public gardens and sculptures throughout the many parks.

This is one of our favorite sculptures.  It seemed like everyone wanted their pictures with the figurines.

Saint John is also a cruise destination along with Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown in PEI. 

This moose sculpture reminded us of the one large moose we saw along the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.

We stopped by the local police museum and just had to take a picture of their chase vehicle.

The Reserving Falls is really one of the most interesting attractions we visited in Canada. Due to the high tidal changes, the St. John River actually reverses directions twice a day as the tide comes in and out.  This first picture was of the tide coming in covering the falls, 

while the second one was the tide going out where the falls actually become visible.  

Hopewell Cape/ Hopewell Rocks

After three days at Cape Breton, we decided it was time to start heading towards New Brunswick.  Gary had seen several photos of an area called Hopewell Rocks.  It is part of the famous Bay of Fundy which has some of the largest tidal changes in the world, over 40 feet every 12 hours.  The first picture in which the people are kayaking is the high tide, and the tall rocks jutting out of the water look a lot like flower pots.

As you can see from this picture, when the tide goes out visitors can actually walk along what was the ocean floor.  There is usually about a 4 hour window each day in which you can descend a quarter mile trail and several flights of steps to gain access.  It is one of the most visited sites in New Brunswick.

This particular arch is known as Lovers Arch and was formed by the tides coming in and out washing away the softer rock.  There are dozens of such formations as shown below. 

Louisbourg Fortress and Sydney

Sunday morning, we headed to the northeast end of Breton Island.  At our fuel stop, I noticed a number of these little convertibles and asked one of the drivers for more information.  As it turns out, a group of 21 British built Morgan Roadsters began a tour from Savannah, Georgia to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.  They appeared to be old classics, but in actuality most of these models were built in the late 90’s and some as recent as 2014.  Each car is custom made and can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000.  I checked them out on the internet and found out that the majority of the frame is actually made up of many custom wood pieces.  Check it out on Google, I think you will be impressed.

Our destination for the day was the Louisburg Fortress, on the northeast end of Cape Breton.  It was constructed by the French in the mid 1700’s to protect the harbor.  Along with the fort, an entire town was constructed within it for protection, making it a lot different than forts we have seen. 

The employees are dressed in original French attire that was of that period.  They were a world of information and answered just about every question our tour group of 15 came up with.  As you can see from the picture, they actually fired a shot from one of their replica muskets.  

The tour included a demonstration of the household duties that were performed in that era.  Above the cook is demonstrating the cooking methods and telling us more about the foods that were consumed during this period.

During this era, the Engineer was pretty much considered the top as his duties included the design and building of the fortress and all its structures.  This particular Engineer brought with him to the Fort a unique device that utilized a weight to turn a spindle that was attached to a rotisserie over the fire so that the meat would be cooked evenly.

Gary and Al were quite interested in the workings of the muskets utilized in this era.  These 40 caliber rifles pack quite a punch and were fairly accurate for over 100 feet.  In this picture, the soldier was showing us the chamber in which a small amount of powder is placed and ignited by the flint when the trigger is pulled thereby setting off the gun powder and propelling the slug from the barrel.

On our return trip, we stopped by Sydney Harbor to check out the town.  The picture of the enormous fiddle is the symbol for the Acadian music which has been played for over the past 300 years.  It is the first thing that the tourist sees when the large cruise ships arrive at the dock.  

Cabot Trail, Cape Breton

There is a 200 mile road that circles around the northwest portion of Cape Breton Island known as the Cabot Trail.  We started our drive for the day at the south end of the trail and went through a number of small communities.  Most of these were small fishing villages with beautiful scenic overlooks. 

A large portion of the trail runs through Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  There are numerous trails and scenic overlooks that beg you to stop and take picture after picture of the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  While the sun was shining, the winds off the water kept the temperature in the mid to low 60’s. 

We took several hikes today.  The first was through a bog located at the top of the mountain where a varied combination of plants had us guessing what they were.  By now we had built up a good appetite and stopped at one of the villages next to the ocean and had a filling lunch as we kept a look out for whales on the horizon.

Continuing on, we selected another trail to walk off our large lunch.  It took us to a replica of a Scottish Crofter’s hut.  The surrounding Sugar Maple trees included several that were estimated to be 350 years old.

Further our ride along the shoreline, we came across Neils Harbour Point and stopped to view one of the many lighthouses.  We thought it funny that during the summertime the lighthouse doubles as an ice cream parlor. 

Finishing our ride, we just had to take one more picture of one of the many scenic overlooks that really helped to make our trip to Nova Scotia a memorable one.  

Travel to Baddeck, Cape Breton

This morning we headed out to Cape Breton which is part of Nova Scotia, Canada’s smallest province.   It’s an island on the north end of Nova Scotia which contains lots of rivers and large lakes.  We picked Baddeck as our home base for the next three days.  It is a small village of on the shores of Bras d’Or Lakes.   It too, like Mahone Bay, sustains its economy with building wooden boats.  The village attracted many well-known persons who built summer houses in this area.

Among those who came to Baddeck was Alexander Graham Bell, drawn because the scenery reminded him of Scotland.  The old Highland Scottish customs persist in the local culture.    There is a beautiful and informative National Historic site which contains many artifacts and describes his life and work as an inventor. 

The main building’s striking architectural style is based on the tetrahedron, the geometric form Bell used in designing his passenger-carrying kites.   The landscaped grounds offer a view of Bell’s estate across Baddeck Bay.  Everyone knows Bell for his invention of the telephone, very few people realize that he conducted many experiments and invented a wide range of item such as a method to communicate with blind people, as well as airplanes, hydrofoil boats, and many other items.  

Two large scale models that Bell and his team designed and tested were displayed in the main hall.  A full scale replica of the airplane (Silver Dart) was built in 2005 to commemorate the original 1909 flight of the first powered, controlled airplane flight in Canada. 

During the Second World War he and his team designed a high speed hydrofoil that he hoped to sell to the Navy for use in hunting out enemy submarines.  Unfortunately, by the time it was perfected, the war had come to an end.  

As I mentioned before, our travel companions are Al and Nancy Auciello, our good friends and old neighbors from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Today was a special day for Al, he celebrated his 71^st birthday.  They are a great couple to travel with and we always have a lot of fun and you can tell from this picture.  

Touring Downtown Halifax

One of our priorities to visit in Halifax is the Citadel which is located on a hill overlooking the waterfront of the capitol city.  Founded in 1749, as a strategic base for the British Royal Navy, there have been four Citadels, all constructed on the high ground above the original town plot.  The first three forts were built of earth and logs and served through 1815.  Construction of a new Citadel began in 1828 and completed in 1856.  This Citadel was never attacked, but as a military deterrent it was a success.   We took a 1 hour tour which included witnessing the noon cannon shot that has taken place everyday except Christmas day since the Citadel was completed.

There are two ferries that run on a regular basis from Halifax to Dartmouth.  We took the ride back and forth and checked out the other side of the bay for a few hours and it only cost $1.75 (senior rate).  Best deal in town!

The night before, we notice the Nova Scotian Crystal Store and decided to return to check it out.  It was amazing to watch as the craftsmen pulled molten crystal from a fiery 1300 degree C pot then shaped, cut and polished it into pieces of exquisite beauty.

What we were watching was the forming of small vases, but they also crafted stemware, wine carafes, bareware and miscellaneous other beautiful crystal items.

Our day in Halifax had to end with a seaside restaurant dinner. Last evening while we were taking our quick tour of the city, we got a recommendation for a restaurant called Salty's.  We took their suggestion and the food (and deserts) were fabulous.